2010 - Public Relations Society of America

minorities break the glass ceiling into upper management positions (Dozier, L. Grunig, & J.
Grunig, 1995, p. 150). Grunig, Toth and Hon (2001) found that mentoring also helps women rise
on the organizational ladder, as it provides a confidence in their personal power and legitimacy
within the public relations profession.
However, little research has been done on mentoring relationships in the field of public
relations. A study by Tam et al. (1995) examined the gender difference in public relations by
analyzing superior-subordinate gender pairings through role enactment, career advancement, and
salary differences (p. 263). Their findings showed that same-sex relationships have a more
intense and active mentorship; particularly female practitioners offered the most support for
female protégés. However, the findings also showed that since the majority of managers are men,
women are less likely to offer career advancement to protégés.
Pompper and Adams (2006) extended Tam et al.’s study by exploring how mentoring
reflects and perpetuates the social construction of gender in public relations mentorships. Their
findings suggest the public relations mentors help protégés in five important ways:
(1) Mentors supplement protégés’ college classroom training by offering
contextual skill-enhancement opportunities; (2) mentors validate and empower protégés
as they grow into counselors charged to lead others and to fulfill public relations’
management function; (3) mentors point out protégés’ image and behavior detractors that
could stunt assimilation or status growth; (4) mentors open their networks to protégés;
and (5) protégés experience substantial benefits from mentoring and later reciprocate by
mentoring others (Pompper & Adams, 2006, p. 314).
The authors also call for practitioners (both male and female) to offer career and
psychosocial support to all protégés, and to offer more formal mentoring guidelines that will
enhance the quality of the relationships. Somerick (2007) also offers suggestions to practitioners
considering mentorship. Some of her main points include (1) offer participation to professionals
with both academic and professional know-how; (2) match mentors to mentees with similar
career aspirations; (3) the mentorship should supplement, not replace classroom learning; and (4)
practitioners should insist on honest, legal and ethical interaction with their protégés. Somerick
posited that “as in any real-world endeavor, a mentoring program that is well thought out should
have more of an opportunity to be socially responsible and effective than one that is informal and
unplanned” (p. 21).
E-mentoring
Though research on mentoring relationships has been conducted for over 40 years, there
is little known about computer-mediated mentorship, otherwise known as electronic mentoring,
telementoring, online mentoring, or e-mentoring. According to Single and Muller (2001), e-
mentoring can be defined as:
A relationship that is established between a more senior individual (mentor) and a lesser
skilled or experienced individual (protégé), primarily using electronic communications,
that is intended to develop and grow the skills, knowledge, confidence, and cultural
understanding of the protégé to help him or her succeed, while also assisting in the
development of the mentor. (p. 108)
There have been a few studies conducted on e-mentoring, but overall little research has
been done to prove the value of this type of mentoring relationship. As was previously
mentioned, the majority of these studies simply describe programs where students or teachers are
linked to some sort of expert or database via a computer-mediated channel (Bierema & Merriam,
2002).
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